A federal judge ruled that a Connecticut woman’s rights under the state’s medical marijuana law had been violated when a company refused to hire her because she was a cannabis patient.
Katelin Noffsinger filed a suit against Bride Brook Health and Rehabilitation Center, a federal contractor, in 2016 after a job offer was rescinded following a positive pre-employment test for cannabis, reported Mondaq.
Noffsinger had already accepted a management-level position with the company, which then scheduled a drug test, according to Marijuana Moment. She had already informed Bride Brook that she was a legal cannabis patient and was treating post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms following a 2012 car crash.
After being informed by Bride Brook that she could not be hired because of her cannabis use, Noffsinger filed an employment-discrimination lawsuit in state court.
The case was pushed to a federal court when Bride Brook used federal cannabis prohibition laws to justify firing Noffsinger; they also argued protection under the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act saying that if they hired Noffsinger, they would be “defrauding” the federal government.
U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer disagreed with that line of argument and ruled Noffsinger could seek monetary damages in a jury trial.
“Refusing to hire a medical marijuana user because she tested positive on a pre-employment drug test violates Connecticut’s medical marijuana law, a federal court in Connecticut has held, granting summary judgment to the job applicant on her employment discrimination claim,” according to an analysis posted by the Jackson Lewis Law Firm.
